1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an automated system that to strip the disposable shoe cover(s) from a user's foot/feet. More specifically, the invention relates to the apparatus and methods for stripping of disposable shoe covers from the user's shoes, transferring of disposed shoe covers to the collecting bin and disinfecting of disposed shoe covers in automated fashion.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Disposable protective shoe covers have been widely used in health care settings such as surgical suites, intensive care units and cardiac catheter laboratories that require sterilization and control of contamination and cross contamination. The shoe covers also have been widely used in some manufacturing environments, including semiconductor and pharmaceutical industries that require “clean rooms” and sterile atmospheres to prevent dust and any other contaminates from human traffic.
However, it is inconvenience and wasteful to exchange disposable shoe cover while a surgeon, or a medical researcher or any individual's hands in sterilized condition, because in order to strip a shoe cover manually it requires an individual to break sterilization, i.e. to remove sterilized gloves, if he/she needs to re-enter the sterilization field or a clean room. This disclosed invention is to present the apparatus and methods that are able to provide automatic and true hands-free stripping of the disposable shoe covers from user's foot/feet, which is desirable to users who need to maintain sterilization for their hands. This novel invention also provides economic value and physical convenience to those people work at sterilization and clean environment.